Groupon…. Will they make it?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2011/06/06/memo-to-sec-groupon-has-no-competitive-advantage-stop-its-ipo/

Groupon Is Kinda Insolvent
Groupon plans to sell itself to the public at a $30 billion valuation. It’s worth noting, then, that the online discounter has accumulated liabilities that greatly exceed its assets and is now running low on cash. The technical term for this is “broke ass poor.”
As of its last SEC filing, Groupon owed merchants $392 million versus $225 million cash in the bank, Business Insider notes. It also owed $681 million in current liabilities with just $376 million in current assets. Even if you factor in intangible and deferred assets, Groupon owes more than it possesses, meeting the definition of “balance sheet insolvency.”

In terms of cash, though, Groupon remains solvent, since it can keep paying old liabilities with money generated creating new liabilities, i.e. by selling Groupons. But the company needs to keep growing; if it slows down too much, or hits a big bump in the road that, God forbid, dramatically decreases sales even temporarily, it’s deep in the shit. Or, as Business Insider puts it, “the company may not be able to sell enough new Groupons to pay off its old bills, and then it will face a serious cash crunch.” Maybe this situation will make the company regret paying out such a huge percentage of its funding in bonuses rather than saving it as cash reserves. Then again, maybe top executives are very glad they cashed out while they still could. Groupon seems to be one of those companies that looks more precarious the closer you get to it.

Bargain Bee (www.BargainBee.com) now in new Orleans!

New Orleans -  BargainBee.com (www.BargainBee.com), Louisiana’s largest volume web-based deal of the day program will start offering 50% – 90% off daily deals this Monday, November 8, 2010 in the greater New Orleans area.   BargainBee.com began offering daily deals in Baton Rouge six months ago and quickly expanded into Lafayette and Lake Charles three months later.

“We are extremely excited about the features we have slated for the New Orleans market and look forward to saving the people of New Orleans a lot of money on dining, spa services and fun things to do in the Greater New Orleans area.” said Kay Joyner, Regional Manager for BargainBee.com in New Orleans.  Joyner went on to say, “We will have great deals to feature on the Northshore, Metairie, Kenner, New Orleans and Westbank.  If you enjoy getting things at a great discount, you will love BargainBee.com.”

BargainBee.com’s founder, Nick Fontenot, is proud to discuss the success BargainBee.com has had in other markets.  When speaking of the Baton Rouge market, Fontenot was excited to say “We have saved our customers in Baton Rouge over a million dollars in our first six months and we look forward to doing the same in New Orleans!”

BargainBee.com will offer one deal of the day in New Orleans, featuring 50% to 90% off on products and services ranging from oil changes and fine dining, to spa treatments all at their lowest discounted price.

To view the deal of the day in New Orleans, simply visit www.BargainBee.com  or sign up for free and get a daily email notification of the day’s feature in your inbox.

 How it works:

BargainBee.com and the retailer set a minimum number of discount vouchers to be sold before the “deal is on”.  To hit that number, BargainBee.com utilizes its database of customers to spread the word on social marketing outlets such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as word of mouth.  Once the minimum number of vouchers is sold, everyone gets the savings!  You simply print your voucher and present it to save 50% to 90%.

For more info on how it works:

http://www.bargainbee.com/page.php?pageid=8 

(This link also has a one minute video describing the group buying process.)

For client testimonials:

www.BargainBeeWorks.com

(This link has a two and half minute video of clients who have had successful campaigns utilizing BargainBee.com.)

 

Previous Press:

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=13111402

(This link is to a news story on WAFB Channel 9 Baton Rouge featuring BargainBee.com.)

Ray Reggie Gives Props to Brad Pitt Again…

We have talked before about the way Brad Pitt has jumped in and helped with rebuilding New Orleans after Katrina but this is worth another mention.  This house he has had built now is very cool.  Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation showed off the first “permitted” floating house in the United States on Tuesday.  Known as the  FLOAT House , the structure is built to float as much as 12 feet.  It has two masts embedded into the foundation and so the chaise is able to float or rise up and down on those two masts in the event of a flood.  The idea is not to make people stay in the threat of another hurricane but to protect their home and belongings so they have something to come back to when it is over.

–Ray Reggie–

Ray Reggie Recommends Really Interesting Article…

This article, New Orleans And Katrina Past Prediction, Future Dystopia by Garry Potter is a really interesting article about Katrina.  It is about the author watching a National Geographic show on television that he thought originally was about Hurricane Katrina.  He realized later that the show was actually made before Hurricane Katrina and it was more like a prediction.  Hmmmm……

The article is kind of long but a very good read with the author touching on topics like global warming and the disturbing economy.  Worth the read if you can take a couple of minutes.

–Ray Reggie–

Ray Reggie Finds Interesting Insights In Sublette

Finding this article about author Ned Sublette and his memories of New Orleans brought some interesting insights into how people feel about New Orleans.  Sublette will be launching his book at the Mother-in-Law Lounge.  “The Year Before the Flood” is not a “Katrina book,” but rather a reminder of what life was like “the last year the city was whole,” Sublette said, here in the place he calls the northernmost point of the “Saints and Festivals belt.” And when he writes of a post-Katrina second-line, with the crowd chanting “Reee-birth!” he says, “Were they supporting the band, or shouting to their city? It was the same thing.”  At one point, Sublette realizes, “You don’t really love New Orleans until you’ve hated it.” Definately a book to read.

–Ray Reggie–

Ray Reggie Recommends “A.D. New Orleans After the Deluge”…

This long form graphic novel tells the story of seven different Hurricane Katrina survivors and how they survived and lived with the aftermath of the storm.  Writer and illustrator Josh Neufeld has had a fairly long career as a cartoonist and had a very strong relationship to Katrina and what happened in New Orleans.

In the structure of this book, we see pictures of New Orleans as it was, and then we see the storm come to New Orleans and Biloxi, and then it begins to tell the story from the points of view of all of the characters. And then it goes back after the storm and checks in with wherever they are, and then at a later point, it goes back again.

It seems that the people in the book gradually seem to recover their balance, but the book really brings home how very pervasive the sense of loss was and still is in New Orleans.  Read more…

–Enjoy, Ray Reggie–

Ray Reggie Remembers…

Last week was a difficult yet enlightening week for me.  As I spent the week remembering and honoring an amazing man and his family with the rest of the country, it caused me to also do some personal reflecting.  Roaming the streets of New Orleans with my memories keeping me company, as I watched the children playing in the parks, the police and city workers doing their jobs and the many unfortunate ones in line at the shelters and food banks, I was faced with the one great truth that we all must face.  This is that every single one of us is born, we live and then we pass on to another place, another journey.  The one thing that truly separates us is how we live.  Staring at this one common denominator that we all share made me wonder if I am doing everything that I can to be the best person I can be.  Could I be kinder?  Could I help more people?  Could I share more of myself with the important people in my life?  Will I look back someday and wish I had done more?  I hope not.  I know that I will make plenty more mistakes in my life and make wrong decisions but I would also like to think that at those times, I will remember last week and what it meant to me and it will make me a better person.

–Ray Reggie–

Ray Reggie Sees A New Face Of New Orleans

Seeing this article made me start to think about New Orleans before Katrina and New Orleans now.  The article definately makes some accurate points.  With the many newcomers and many natives New Orleanians gone, it is a very different place.  Safety is far more an issue now with the increase in crime over the last few years.  While it is still very much the same place, some of the neighborly feel has gone.  It used to be one of the last few places that you felt like you could count on your neighbors and now many people don’t know who their neighbors even are.  It seems like there may be a younger crowd which is probably good for the economy but maybe not so much for keeping the history and culture here alive and strong.  It will be interesting what the future of this great city holds.

–Ray Reggie–

Ray Reggie Recommends…

I know it is a busy week for many people with kids going back to school and the end of another summer drawing near, but here at Ray Reggie’s Weblog, we found a nice site review for a site called Open Sound New Orleans.  You can read the review here. Open Sound New Orleans is a cool community media project that invites and enables New Orleanians to document their lives in sound.  Check it out when you have a minute.  Nice highlight for our city and sound!

–Ray Reggie–

Ray Reggie Recommends…

Hey all,

I know it is Sunday and we are all trying to relax but I just found this article about the upcoming elections for Mayor of New Orleans and the possible candidates.  Wonder who else will be popping out of the woodwork before the campaigns actually begin??  Read the article about the candidates here…

Any opinions?  Let me know…i would love to hear your ideas!

–Ray Reggie–